


How Fondly Loves (The Homesick Heart)- Keith

by painted_lady12



Series: How Fondly Loves (The Homesick Heart) [5]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Confessions, Drunk Hunk, Drunken Confessions, Genderfluid Pidge | Katie Holt, Hunk & Keith (Voltron) Friendship, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Space Dad Shiro (Voltron), Supportive Shiro (Voltron), Team Bonding, krolia is afraid of dogs, yellow lion has a secret liquor bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-09-17 21:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16982091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_lady12/pseuds/painted_lady12
Summary: Excerpt:Their new black paladin.. or old red paladin?... red paladin turned black but still wearing red armor?… Hunk shook his head to clear it.  Hunk worrying about that wasn’t going to change the fact that Hunk had been tackled to the ground by Keith and then strong-armed into being stuck with not only the zoo of animals but also the king of the angst brigade.On top of all of that, Hunk and Keith didn’t have much in common.  In fact, the awkward silence was starting to ring in Hunk’s ears as he struggled to figure out something that they could talk about.He snapped his fingers then.  “So, you and Lance, huh?”





	How Fondly Loves (The Homesick Heart)- Keith

**Author's Note:**

> The paladins are on their way home after the battle with Lotor, and for some of them it's bringing up bad memories and old wounds.
> 
> Each paladin will tell a chapter about another, and over the course of the five chapters the five humans returning to Earth will start to come to terms with what returning to Earth means to them.
> 
> This chapter is Keith's, as told by Hunk
> 
> This is the end of the group of five. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read these<3 Writing them was a treat so I'm happy that I got to share them with you.
> 
> Title from a poem by John Imlah

Keith had wanted to yell at Shiro some more after their terse interaction.  How could he drop off lunch and just disappear without any explanation?!

 

So Keith called his wolf back and in a few minutes they were in the cockpit of yellow.  Keith was expecting Shiro to be working on his simulation again, and was surprised to see that the cockpit was empty.

 

There was a conversation going on in the back room, though, and Keith froze as he heard Hunk speak to Shiro with a nervous shake in his voice.

 

“It was just… even if they were dating, he was like three years older than her.  She couldn’t give consent anyway. No matter how you spin it… It was such a complicated situation to her, but I could see it for what it was.  It was just rape.”

 

Keith felt like someone had knocked over a domino in his head.  Suddenly they were all going off, a whole row of them one by one, revealing a pattern beneath that he hadn’t even dared to picture in his worst nightmares.

 

He grabbed the wolf’s mane tightly and didn’t even need to say anything before they were teleporting back into the black lion.

  


***

  


Hunk felt a lot better after talking to Shiro.  Their rotation was going again, and soon Hunk was sitting with the whole zoo of animals in the back of his lion.  Shiro was switched to be with Keith, Krolia was with Pidge, and Coran was in with Lance. Romelle and Allura were bonding when Hunk dropped off their lunch.

 

Hunk had his basket full of dinners and was delivering them around to the new pairs.

 

When Hunk got to the black lion, Keith practically jumped on him and tackled them backwards.  The wolf teleported them back to the yellow lion, and soon Keith was snatching up his dinner and sitting down in the yellow lion’s kitchen area like it was nothing.

 

“Uh, Keith?  What the hell, dude?” Hunk was still on the floor, two dinners still in their boxes but also fallen out of his delivery basket.

 

“Sorry, Hunk, I can’t be in there with Shiro.  Is it cool if I crash here for a little bit?”

 

His voice was calm and smooth, and Hunk was concerned for a second but then let it settle.  Instead, he delivered the other dinners and then came back, eyeing Keith warily.

 

Their new black paladin.. or old red paladin?... red paladin turned black but still wearing red armor?… Hunk shook his head to clear it.  Hunk worrying about that wasn’t going to change the fact that Hunk had been tackled to the ground by Keith and then strong-armed into being stuck with not only the zoo of animals but also the king of the angst brigade.

 

On top of all of that, Hunk and Keith didn’t have much in common.  In fact, the awkward silence was starting to ring in Hunk’s ears as he struggled to figure out something that they could talk about.

 

He snapped his fingers then.  “So, you and Lance, huh?”

 

Keith’s ears turned red.  “Uh… yeah. I’d been helping him sleep better and it just… we only kissed the once,” Keith then frowned and counted on his fingers.  “Actually we kissed three times. I’m… honestly I don’t know what’s happening with it.”

 

Hunk nodded sagely.  If there was one topic he was an expert on, it was his best friend Lance.  

 

They’d found their common ground.

 

“Lance has a tendency to think a lot about how he can create romance and not clue the other party in.  Once he thought he’d confessed his love to this girl already and when he told her in passing... let’s just say that it wasn’t pretty.  He gets stuck in his own head sometimes.”

 

Keith looked up and chuckled.  “I don’t… romance isn’t the right word.  I don’t think it’s like that.”

 

Steady brown eyes bore into purple ones as Hunk asked slowly, “So the lips and the tongues and the sucking and the passionate embrace stuff… you think that’s just what bros do to each other?  Let me just stop you there, man…”

 

“No!” Keith ran his hand through his hair.  “No, that wasn’t… I just don’t think he likes me like that.  I think that he just associates me with keeping away his nightmares.  I think that it’s messing with his head. He doesn’t actually like me, he just thinks he does.”

 

The mice had heard the commotion and has somersaulted into the conversation, two of them patting Keith’s neck reassuringly and two of them curling up into Hunk’s lap.

 

“Listen, Keith, it isn’t a nightmare thing.  If it was, Shiro would be in love with both me and Pidge at this point.”

 

Keith blinked.  “I… what?”

 

“Never mind.  The point is, I know that Lance has liked you for longer than just this little voyage.  Don’t worry about his feelings being real or not. How do you feel?”

 

“I don’t… I don’t know.  I haven’t felt this way before.  It’s different this time…” Keith suddenly got up and called the wolf to him.  “I have to go run diagnostics on black.”

 

“I thought you were avoiding…” but Keith disappeared with the two mice looking quite panicked on his shoulder, “... Shiro.”

 

Slumping over, Hunk wondered where he went wrong.

 

Within a few seconds, though, Hunk realized that Lance was trying to video chat him.  “Buddy, you have to help me. I think Keith is… I think he’s just feeling bad for me. They’re pity kisses, Hunk.  Pity kisses!”

 

Coran was behind Lance, nodding in agreement and support.  “We used to call it pulling the Weesnivel back on Altea. If you felt bad enough for someone sometimes you would help to boost their confidence with sexual favors or dates.  It never ended well.”

 

Rolling his eyes, Hunk pointed behind Coran.  “Get out, Coran. You aren’t helping right now.”

 

Coran scoffed, but exited from the cockpit, leaving Hunk alone with Lance.

 

“What if… what if he doesn’t like me?”

 

Internally, Hunk was going on a rant about how communication is key and all of that, but outwardly he tried to remain supportive.  “I can say with certainty that he does like you, Lance. Just ask him.”

 

Lance’s eyes grew wide, and he bit his lip.  Sometimes while Lance and Hunk were talking Lance would literally get younger before Hunk’s eyes until he was just a preteen again, his teeth more crooked and his eyes so much wider and full of wonder.

 

Lance was fourteen right now and was staring at Hunk as if his best friend could decide if the sun rises and sets.  Lance always relied heavily on Hunk’s consistent and steady nature. When a storm of anxiety was blowing around Lance he needed something sturdy to hold onto so he wouldn’t be whisked away.

 

Hunk was his shelter from the storm.

 

“Lance, I’m sure about this.  Just talk to him.”

 

Just like that Lance was back to himself, and the two of them were adults again.  

 

“Thanks, man.  What have you been up to today?”

 

Hunk recounted how Keith had tackled him, but omitted that they had talked about Lance to maintain Keith’s privacy.  They laughed as Hunk re-enacted what it looked like when Keith had just jumped up and eaten while leaving Hunk on the floor.

 

When the two of them hung up, they both felt like they’d recharged and were ready to face the rest of the day, as best friends do.

  


***

  


This time it was just before bedtime when their leader teleported into Hunk’s space.  Keith was in black sweats and a grey crew neck t-shirt, his toothbrush in one hand and a look of murder on his face.

 

“I’m sleeping here.”

 

Hunk raised an eyebrow.  “Wait, what?!”

 

“Shiro is being overbearing and nosy and I’m not here for it right now.  I’m just going to brush my teeth and go to sleep.”

 

Keith exited into the bathroom as Hunk heard a ringing in the cockpit.

 

When Hunk answered, already exhausted, it was Shiro, who had his “concerned dad face” on.  His white hair stood out in a shock with the lighting in the cockpit. “Is Keith with you, Hunk?”

 

He nodded, yawning and asking, “what do you keep pressuring him to talk about?”

 

At that, Shiro pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers.  “He’s being childish about this. It’s just something that we need to discuss.  I… he doesn’t seem to want to talk to me.”

 

“I think you should leave it, dude.  It’s really messing with his head, and we’re going to be out here for a while.  We don’t have any way for him to take space or a break. There’s nowhere else to go.”

 

Shiro seemed to think that over for a minute.  “I guess you’re right. Just… maybe try to encourage him to open up.”

 

“He’s not going to talk to me, Shiro,” Hunk laughed, running his fingers back through his hair.  What a ridiculous notion, having Keith confide in Hunk of all people.

 

Completely ludicrous.

 

When Hunk came back out into the main room, though, Keith was kneeling on the ground, holding his center, like he was trying to keep his guts from ripping their way out of him.  He had tears streaming down his face, but when Hunk came in he quickly got up and wiped the tears away. “You saw nothing.”

 

Hunk’s answer was instantaneous.  “I don’t even know what I didn’t see.”

 

They went to sleep in almost complete silence.

  


***

  


The next morning after Hunk delivered breakfast, Keith settled in with a cup of Altean tea.

 

This automatically sent off warning buzzers in Hunk’s head.  Had Shiro told Keith about calling tea party? Was this some sort of complicated set-up?  Regardless, Hunk would always honor tea party. He sat down and plopped a tea triangle into his hot water, eyeing Keith’s huddled stance with trepidation.

 

When Keith didn’t seem to want to share, Hunk began, “So what’s on your mind, Keith?”

 

He wasn’t expecting Keith to immediately put his tea cup down and start pacing.  “It’s fucking Shiro. He’s… he’s done so much for me and I love him like family but he just… he doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone.”

 

In another life, Hunk thinks he could be a therapist.  He crossed his legs and sipped his tea, the flavor running reassuringly over his taste buds.  “How does that make you feel?”

 

“Angry, obviously!” Keith scoffed, continuing his pacing.  “He doesn’t get to decide what happened. I get to decide what happened.”

 

His voice petered out a little at the end and his gaze turned glassy, but it was only for a brief second before he looked up at Hunk seeking help.  

 

“I’m right, right?”

 

Hunk opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again and said cautiously, “I might need an example, because so far I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

Keith’s dark brow furrowed.  In the lighting that the lions were set to have in the mornings, it threw his new Galran mark on his face into sharp relief.  Hunk never asked what had happened with Shiro’s clone to bring that out, and he knew that now wasn’t the best time.

 

“Okay so… let’s say that I was dating Lance.  Theoretically,” Keith reassured quickly even though Hunk had already decided that they were dating.  That wasn’t relevant to the example, anyway. “I’m dating Lance but Shiro thinks it’s a bad idea. He thinks that Lance is doing horrible things to me, but I don’t see that at all.  Who is right in this situation?”

 

Thinking it over, Hunk asked, “What do I think in this example?”

 

“You’re not in this example,” Keith dismissed, but Hunk argued back.

 

“I would have an opinion on your relationship if you were dating Lance.”

 

Impatient, Keith muttered, “Then let’s say it’s someone you don’t know, and only Shiro knows them.”

 

Nodding his head thoughtfully, Hunk said, “I see.  I would still want to meet them and form an opinion.  I don’t want any of my Voltron family dating anyone that doesn’t deserve them.”

 

This was not what Keith wanted to hear.  “I don’t… let’s just say that you can’t meet them.  Who is right? The random observer from the outside, or the person actually in the relationship?”

 

“I can see it from both sides though,” Hunk explained, which made Keith’s eyes go a little crazed as he continued, “I would want to take your side, Keith, because like you said you’re the one in the relationship so you’re the expert on you, right?  Then there’s also the part of me that would take Shiro’s side because he looks out for you and only wants what’s best, and he might be able to see something that you can’t from up close.”

 

Keith opened his mouth, then closed it, narrowing his eyes at Hunk.

 

“Thanks for the tea,” Keith swallowed the rest and Cosmo teleported Keith back to black.

 

Hunk was going to have to look into them creating some sort of doorbell system with this wolf.

  


***

  


Keith was back within two hours.

 

“What does Lance like in a romantic partner?  Does he want flowers, or is he more of a candlelight dinners guy?”

 

The hot and cold of Keith’s emotional rollercoaster was going to give Hunk whiplash.  

 

“He loves romance, but he usually ends up being the romancer.  I don’t know if anyone has ever tried to woo him before. There’s a good chance that he’ll like it, but he’s also never tried it before.”

 

Keith nodded, like he was internally taking notes.

 

“Do you… think that it’s selfish of us to be trying to figure this out with Lance with everything going on?”

 

Therapist Hunk was back out.  He should start wearing glasses and keeping a legal pad and pen on him.  “I think our lives have been insane and this is one of the first real breaks we’ve had since most of this started.  Like a real break, not when we were doing the traveling performances or anything. If there’s going to be a time, why not now?”

 

A tiny smile flitted across Keith’s lips before he let it fall back into his normal scowl.  

 

“Thanks, dude.  Mind if I hang around a bit?”

 

Hunk grumbled, “You’re going to stay anyway, aren’t you?  Even if I say no?”

 

“Basically,” Keith shrugged.

 

“Then go ahead, make yourself at home.”

 

The black paladin settled into an alcove and picked up his tablet, reviewing something on it and tapping away like he was taking notes.

 

Hunk continued on with his daily routine as if Keith wasn’t even there.

  


***

  


Later that night, Hunk found something while he was cleaning out some of the back room storage areas of yellow.

 

“Keith, I need you!!!”

 

The level of urgency was enough that Keith basically flew into the room, ramming into the opposite wall in the scramble to get to Hunk.  “What’s wrong? What’s going on?!”

 

Hunk held up a small yellow bottle with a complicated glass design.  It looked like honey, and had a golden top shaped like an octagon.

 

“What is that?” Keith looked uncertain of the substance, but Hunk just held his translator over it.  “It’s liquor.”

 

“It is indeed, good Keith.  Based off of my calculations, this is enough to get two sturdy men drunk.  Would you like to join me in drinking this oddly lion color-themed liquor?”

 

Hunk knew that he could bond with Keith over Lance.  However, once the Lance topic ran out, the two of them lapsed basically into comfortable silence.  It wasn’t… a bad time, but Hunk wanted to be able to bond with Keith.

 

Nothing said “male bonding” quite like getting drunk and ranting about their friends.

 

Within two hours the two of them were giggling over Shay.

 

“She was so big and you were so tiny!” Keith couldn’t seem to laugh hard enough at that fact.  “Did you guys ever… how would it even work?”  


Coughing, Hunk muttered, “Balmerans don’t have a traditional mating experience, so… um... “ Hunk turned tomato red, “...she offered to blow me and I had to make sure she was serious like fifteen times but then… yeah.  They lay eggs or something so they don’t even have a direct translation for sexual pleasure.”

 

“Shay blew you?!” Keith was giggling up a storm again, “Dude, up top.”

 

Hunk did go for the high-five, the liquor rattling some of his normal screws loose.  He would normally get defensive, but everything was just drifting so well, right now.

 

“I blew someone,” Keith was staring at the opposite wall as he giggled again.  “We… he was my first guy.  I had kissed girls but once I kissed him I knew that I was gay.  He was a jackass.” Keith opted to just take a swig directly out of the glass bottle instead of pouring out into the measuring cups Hunk had brought out.

 

“I didn’t know you were gay.  I figured you were bi or something,” Hunk said suspiciously, “Why is everyone suddenly gay?  Shiro is gay. Lance is… something. Pidge is genderfluid. I feel left out.”

 

Keith didn’t even respond to that, looking a little frustrated.  

 

Hunk decided to change course of conversation.  “So who was the dude?”

 

“Captain Duncan James,” Keith took another long swig, and Hunk felt the name tickle something in the back of his memory.  Why was that name sticking out? Where did he know him from? “Shiro wants me to talk about him since I might see him when we get back to Earth but I don’t think rehashing how much of a dick he was when we broke up is going to do anything for me.”

 

The name was really starting to bug Hunk.  Why did that name sound…

 

… oh, right.  After Keith left, after Shiro was captured, that teacher was fired from the school.

 

Captain Duncan James was a thirty-year-old teacher.   The good captain had been sleeping with students, and was promptly fired when the scandal leaked.

 

Keith was only seventeen when he was kicked out of the Garrison… so… if they had a relationship it would have been...

 

“Keith,” Hunk prodded gently, trying to carefully extricate the bottle from his hands, “I think that you should talk to Shiro.”

 

That must have been the wrong thing to say, because Keith pulled the bottle farther away and stood up, dilated pupils giving Hunk a look of complete betrayal.  

 

“I thought we were drinking buddies?  I thought you were helping me stay away from Shiro, and now you want me to go back over to him and what?  What is he going to tell me, Hunk? What will he say that will change how much I hate this guy?”

 

He was starting to shake.  Hunk was very worried about the bottle falling onto the cold metal floor and breaking as Keith and Hunk currently were only wearing socks.  

 

“I heard you,” Keith hissed out, going paler suddenly.  Hunk had never really thought about what a beautiful color contrast Keith was.  He understood why Lance was so infatuated with such an awe-inspiring clash of absolutes.  The black of Keith’s hair, the paleness of his face. The grey of his mark, the bright blood-red of his lips.  The sharp, electric purple of his eyes. In his drunken state Hunk had to appreciate the work of art in front of him.

 

“I said I heard you, Hunk,” his voice hadn’t gotten much louder.  Hunk had to strain to hear him. “I heard you talking about your sister.  You said her boyfriend raped her but that isn’t right. If you’re with someone and in a relationship it’s okay.  It’s supposed to be consensual… damnit!”

 

Keith threw the bottle against the far wall.  Hunk could hear the yellow lion reach out in concern and mild annoyance as Hunk guided Keith out and slammed the door to that room shut.

 

He would clean it up another day.

 

Instead, he video called Shiro from the hallway, where Keith was starting to lose it.

 

“Hunk?  What’s going on?”

 

“I’m sending Keith back.  He’s messed up and drunk and he needs you right now.”

 

A wash of sadness overtook Shiro.  “Okay, yeah. I’ve got it from here.”

 

Hunk guided Keith back to Cosmo and collapsed onto his sofa, keeping the video feed on but turning off the audio so that he wasn’t listening in on their private conversation.  When Keith got back to the cockpit of black, he screamed a question at Shiro who instead of answering just enveloped him in a hug, one of the bone-crushing hugs you give to someone to help hold them together as they were falling apart.

 

The screen flickered on his lap as he crowded over it.

 

There was a drop of clear liquid on the screen suddenly.  Hunk looked up. Was there a leak somewhere?

 

Then he realized that the leak was him.

 

He was crying.

  


***

  


The next morning they had a team meeting.  If Hunk hadn’t seen Keith last night, he wouldn’t know that anything was different.  The only indicator that anything was wrong was the bags under his eyes. Shiro was behind him, a steady support.  Everyone else was scattered around and yawning as Keith lead the meeting.

 

“Alright, Shiro has been working on some simulations.  I want us to spend an hour or two on them a day to keep us sharp.”

 

Krolia had been retired from simulation making when everyone died in hers, and there was a clear pout on her face as they started it up.

 

After the simulation, Keith appeared in the cockpit with the wolf again.

 

“Thanks for last night man.  Sorry that I trashed one of the rooms and wasted all that liquor.”

 

Hunk shrugged.  “I figured I’d just clean it later.”

 

Keith shook his head.  “I went back and mopped it and cleaned it earlier this morning, don’t worry about it.  Just…” his voice petered out.

 

It was a risk, but Hunk took the risk in the ensuing silence.  “They fired him.”

 

“Who?” Keith asked even though it was clear that he already knew.

 

“They fired Captain Duncan James.  He won’t be at the Garrison because he was dishonorably discharged.  So you don’t have to worry about running into him.”

 

Keith’s purple eyes softened incrementally.  “Oh. Well, okay then. Uh… thanks, Hunk.”

 

Then the black paladin was gone.

  


***

  


Later that evening, Hunk included an extra bundle as he was handing out dinner.

 

“I’m calling tea party!”

 

Lance and Shiro were the only two who seemed to understand what that meant.  Pidge remembered with a little prodding. Shiro explained it to Keith, and Lance explained it to Coran, and eventually Krolia, Allura, and Romelle were brought into the fold about it as well.

 

“I gave everyone the materials to make tea.  So, now that everyone knows what that means to me, I wanted to say some things.”

 

He took a deep breath as everyone waited patiently.  

 

“I think this journey is starting to get to some of us.  A lot of us are worried about what we left behind on Earth, or what we’ll find when we get there.  We have a lot of unanswered questions and uncertainties that are weighing us down. So I want everyone to say something that is scaring them, right now.  No one is allowed to respond or interrupt. That way it is out there in the universe. I think we all need a little bit of a vent session.”

 

Everyone looked around at each other expectantly.

 

“I’ll go first!” Hunk announced, taking a sip of his tea.  “I’m afraid that when I get back to Earth I won’t want to come back to Voltron.”

 

A few people cried out or argued, but Shiro quickly shushed them.  “You guys were told the rules.  No interrupting. I’ll go next. I’m afraid that when I get back Adam will have moved on.”

 

Keith touched Shiro’s hand cautiously.  “I’m afraid that being the black paladin will mean nothing when we’re back at the Garrison.  I’m worried that they’re still going to see me as just another messed up kid.”

 

Quiet followed that one, and then Romelle spoke up.  “I’m worried that the other humans won’t be as welcoming as you all have been.”

 

Coran seemed to gain inspiration from that one.  “I’m afraid that the technology on Earth won’t be advanced enough to replace the castle of lions.”

 

Allura sucked in a breath at that.  “I’m worried that without the castle I’m going to start to lose Altea.  I… don’t have much left, anymore.”

 

“I’m afraid that my mother won’t accept me as I am,” Pidge’s voice wavered.

 

Lance swallowed and muttered, “I’m afraid that I won’t be able to find peace with my family.”

 

After that everyone was staring expectantly at Krolia, who just shrugged.  “I’m not really afraid of much.”

 

Everyone groaned as she stumbled back a bit.  “Alright, um… I’m afraid of seeing dogs again.”

 

There was a collective silence from the humans and confusion from the others.  

 

“Did you say dogs?” Keith asked with a measured tone.

 

Krolia nodded, her eyes narrowing and gaze turning icy.  “I’ve never trusted dogs. Humans have given them too many liberties.  They’re the perfect sleeper agents, being allowed into homes and getting fed without doing any work and…” she shuddered, “dogs are terrifying.”

 

Clearing his throat, Hunk said, “Alright, tea party is over.  Good night, everyone.”

  


***

  


Keith stood with Cosmo in the cockpit of black for a while until he gathered up the courage and appeared in red.

 

Lance looked up from his graphic novel, and immediately scrambled to get over to Keith.  He was still getting used to Keith being taller than him, and for a moment he let himself look up and marvel at how perfect Keith was, even when he looked terribly distraught.

 

“Lance?” his voice cracked as he came forward and pressed his hesitant lips to Lance’s.  It was expected and welcomed, and Lance kissed him again and brought him close, so that when they pulled apart Keith was leaning on the other paladin for support.

 

The red paladin guided them to sit down, and then grabbed some of Keith’s secret stores of candy.

 

“What’s going on, Keith?”

 

There was a pause before Keith muttered, “Shiro keeps saying that I need to open up and let you in the way that you’ve done for me.  So… here I am. I think I’m ready.”

 

Taking a steadying breath, Lance squeezed Keith’s calloused hand.  “Go ahead, but no rush, Keith. I’m not going anywhere.”

 

_I’m not going anywhere._

 

Sometimes Keith repeated phrases in his head when he knew that they meant something else.  “I’m not going anywhere” sounded eerily similar to “I care about you and I’m sticking around, if you’ll have me.”

 

After a wet inhale, Keith began.  

 

“When I was sixteen, one of our professors approached me about my behavior problems.  He said… well, he told me that he wanted to help me. I started working with him on community service projects and whenever I got detention I would get the speech from Shiro and… Captain James.  Then, after a particularly bad situation, he told me that he cared about me. He told me that he wanted to show me that he cared, and that if I opened up to him he’d help keep me from being thrown out of the Garrison.  So… I did, and... I believed him.”

 

Lance’s heart clenched tightly.  “Oh, Keith…”

 

“I believe you, too.  When you tell me you care about me… I believe you.”

 

_I’m not going anywhere._

 

_I believed him._

 

Lance’s hand came up to stroke Keith’s cheek.  “Nothing that you tell me can make my feelings for you go away.”

 

There was a sharp intake of breath from Keith.  Lance had never seen him as vulnerable as this, as the black paladin whispered roughly, “I care about you, too.  So much.”

 

“It’s settled, then.  I believe you, and you believe me.  The first step is always the hardest, right?”

 

A smile flashed between them.

 

_I believe you._

 

In that moment, Keith wondered if “I believe you” meant “I love you”.

 

In the next, he pressed a lingering kiss to Lance’s forehead and let himself believe.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make my world go 'round :D If you liked this series, let me know! If you like this, feel free to check out my other fics! I write for Voltron and Yuri!!! on Ice


End file.
